Urine collecting incontinence guards are well known for use by males afflicted with poor or no bladder control, particularly when bedridden following surgery or prolonged illness. Generally, the guards of which I am aware are formed as a sheath from moisture impervious material having an inner liquid absorbent layer. A user's penis and often the scrotum is inserted into the sheath which will contain an involuntary discharge of urine.
In various prior art guards of which I am aware, the sheath is usually supported in a protective position on the wearer by a belt encircling the waist and connected to the sheath with a strap, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 741,173 to Seidel. However, this type of arrangement results in a guard that is complex and bulky in construction and often difficult to attach to bedridden male patients. When worn beneath street clothing, i.e., pants, the use of belts renders the guard uncomfortable to the user.
The insertion opening formed in the prior art sheath discussed supra utilizes a string having ends tied together to clamp the opening to the penis or scrotum to provide further support. However, with this arrangement, a large knot as well as loose ends of the string are disposed outside the sheath which can be noticeable through street clothing due to increased bulkiness if an adult diaper is not worn by the user, as well as uncomfortable to the user.
An incontinence guard disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,938 to Brendling is of simpler design than that disclosed in the Seidel patent, and comprises a sheath formed of identical side walls. The side walls are parallelogram shaped and have opposing edges of unequal size and shape establishing an insertion opening wherein these shaped edges are adapted to lie snugly against the base of the penis. However, to retain the guard in protective position, tight fitting retaining pants must be worn which can be uncomfortable for any wearer and is especially impractical for bedridden patients.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a scrotum protecting guard with an insertion opening having adjustable fastening means permitting both a comfortable and snug fit around the perimeter of the penis or scrotum.
Another object is to provide a guard which can be widely used with different sizes of penis and penis positions that may be encountered.
Still a further object is to provide a guard that is inexpensive to manufacture and can be comfortably worn in a protective position with or without pants.
Yet another object is to provide a guard that can be easily attached and detached from the penis and scrotum.
There exists a need for protecting the scrotum from contact with prepping solutions, as before urology or proctology surgery. Further, it would be desirable to protect the scrotum from contact with fecal matter or urine as likely to occur during adult use of diapers, avoiding expensive nursing personnel time required to clean the patients's scrotum following soiling.